Playback Unit Research Articles

Unique Signal System for Road Traffic

Abstract: The signal system designed here is intended to raise metal rods from the underground of road when red signal is energized. This scheme is adapted to restrict the road traffic strictly. When the red light turned in to green, automatically the metal rods will be lowered to below the road level. In addition after stopping the traffic, pedestrians are allowed to cross the road, for which an automatic announcement will be made to alert them. Since it is a prototype module, basic theme is presented for single road, but for real time applications it can be implemented for all sides of the cross roads . The demo module is constructed with single signal post which contains red, green & yellow signals. The main processing unit constructed with 89C2051 controller chip is programmed to energize indicators one after another automatically with specific timings. Once the system is energized, initially green indicator will be glow, after some time green indicator will be switched off and yellow indicator will be glown, and then red indicator will be energized. As long as red indicator remains in glowing condition, walking person symbol simulated with green LED’s will be flashed continuously until the green indicator glows. During red indicator on, metal rods remains above the road level, after that these rods will be lowered automatically. DC motor is used to raise and lower the metal rods moving mechanism. The moving mechanism is constructed with Rack & pinion. Voice record cum playback unit designed with ISD1820 chip is used to make an auto announcement such that during red signal condition “now pedestrians can cross the road” will be announced automatically. This message will be repeated until the red signal turned off. H Bridge IC is used to drive the DC motor. Especially this system is very useful for school zones.

Prospects for Wideband VLBI Correlation in the Cloud

This paper proposes a cloud architecture for the correlation of wide bandwidth Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data. Cloud correlation facilitates processing of entire experiments in parallel using flexibly allocated and practically unlimited compute resources. This approach offers a potential improvement over dedicated correlation clusters, which are constrained by a fixed number of installed processor nodes and playback units. Additionally, cloud storage offers an alternative to maintaining a fleet of hard disk drives that might be utilized intermittently. Here, we describe benchmarks of VLBI correlation using the DiFX-2.5.2 software on the Google Cloud Platform to assess cloud-based correlation performance. In our analysis, the number of virtual central processing units per virtual machine was varied to determine the optimum configuration of cloud resources. The number of stations was varied to determine the scaling of correlation time with VLBI arrays of different sizes. Data transfer rates from Google cloud storage to the virtual machines performing the correlation were also measured. Based on the results, we present an example cloud correlation configuration. Current cloud service and equipment pricing data is used to compile cost estimates allowing an approximate economic comparison between cloud and cluster processing. We note that the economic comparisons are based on cost figures which are a moving target, and are highly dependent on factors such as the utilization of cluster and media, which are a challenge to estimate. Our model suggests that shifting to the cloud is an alternative path for high data rate, low duty cycle wideband VLBI correlation that should continue to be explored. In the production phase of VLBI correlation, the cloud has the potential to significantly reduce data processing times and allow the processing of more science experiments in a given year for the petabyte-scale data sets increasingly common in both astronomy and geodesy VLBI applications.

Image processing analysis and research based on game animation design

With the development of the game industry, and the new electronic consumption chain to promote the development of the game industry model continues to strengthen. Therefore, it is more necessary to make good use of good technology to do a good job of games. From the momentum of the development of mobile terminal games in recent years, the game industry has become a new economic growth point in China's economic transformation. With the development of computer and Internet, graphics and image processing technology has entered another unprecedented stage. In recent years, different image processing techniques have been used to process and analyze the game interface. Appropriate image processing methods include image enhancement, image binarization, image edge detection and image feature extraction. In this paper, by changing the mapping function from priority to probability and comparing the single mapping function of the previous algorithm, the mapping function of playback learning with higher probability of the important priority playback unit is found. In the experiment, the intuitive model strategy analysis of the improved algorithm is carried out firstly. Then the choice of CNN network layer structure, cost function analysis, efficiency analysis and game score comparison of each algorithm are carried out. Finally, the test results show that the new algorithm in this paper can make more effective decisions in video games and achieve the goal of winning higher scores and spending less time.

International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry

The International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) regularly produces high-quality Earth orientation parameters from observing sessions employing extensive networks or individual baselines. The master schedule is designed according to the telescope days committed by the stations and by the need for dense sampling of the Earth orientation parameters (EOP). In the pre-2011 era, the network constellations with their number of telescopes participating were limited by the playback and baseline capabilities of the hardware (Mark4) correlators. This limitation was overcome by the advent of software correlators, which can now accommodate many more playback units in a flexible configuration. In this paper, we describe the current operations of the IVS with special emphasis on the quality of the polar motion results since these are the only EOP components which can be validated against independent benchmarks. The polar motion results provided by the IVS have improved continuously over the years, now providing an agreement with IGS results at the level of 20–25 $$\upmu $$ as in a WRMS sense. At the end of the paper, an outlook is given for the realization of the VLBI Global Observing System.

A Novel Cell Phone Designed For Blind AlongWith Voice Based Guidance and LocationIndication

Blind people face tremendous challenges daily in accessing information while on the move or for matter in communicating with world around them. In order to achieve this challenging task we, in this paper propose a novel cell phone which is designed for blind and is used for managing incoming and outgoing calls, sending and receiving SMS, detect obstacles while on move and indicate the location coordinates of the blind. The call can be made by pressing a key on the Braille keypad which is assigned with a specific contact number in the phone book. The messages are typed into Braille keypad and are processed by microcontroller which converts the Braille letters to English alphabets using the look up table then this SMS is sent via GSM. The voice playback unit provides an audio version of the received SMS. When an emergency switch is pressed the location of the blind is provided via GPS and the GSM will forward this information to the pre fed mobile number stored in the phone book. When the object is detected near to the blind the ultrasonic sensor sends signal to voice playback unit.

Disentangling effects of noise from presence of anthropogenic infrastructure: Design and testing of system for large‐scale playback experiments

ABSTRACTAnthropogenic noise may be detrimental to many bird species, and manipulative experiments would help us understand these effects. We present the design and validation of a self‐sustaining solar‐powered broadcasting system that will allow researchers to disentangle acute or chronic effects of noise from effects of the presence of infrastructure, even in remote areas. We tested the broadcasting system using a case study on noise from oil well infrastructure in southern Alberta, Canada. Recordings from 2 types of oil wells were obtained and then broadcasted through 6 independent playback units continuously for a period of 3 months in 2013, at sites undisturbed by oil development. Sound measurements at real oil wells and at sites with broadcasting systems simulating the noise from these oil wells demonstrated that real and projected noise had very similar sound pressure levels, attenuation trends, and spectral composition. Throughout this long‐term playback experiment, the system produced power and noise reliably and consistently. In conjunction with bird surveys, this experimental design and infrastructure can be used to allow researchers to dissociate the presence of anthropogenic development from associated noise, providing us with information that will help decrease the environmental impacts of human activities. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

Development and Hardware Implementation of a Fault Transients Recognition System

This paper presents the development and hardware implementation of a classification scheme to distinguish the transients originated by faults from other types of transients. In the proposed scheme, a set of Hidden Markov Model-based classifiers is employed to recognize the fault transients. Input features for the classifiers are the energy contained in wavelet coefficients of the measured current waveforms. A laboratory prototype of the fault recognition system was implemented on a floating-point digital-signal-processor (DSP)-based hardware platform. The classification system was tested using the transient signals generated by a real-time waveform playback unit. The test waveforms were generated by simulating an actual extra-high-voltage transmission system on an electromagnetic transient simulation program. The operation of the classification system was further verified using waveforms obtained from an actual fault recorder. The performance of the classifier was investigated under different practical scenarios, such as current transformer saturation, measurement noise, and lightning faults.

300 Tapes

300 Tapes Public Recordings (bio) 300 TAPES is created by Joe Cobden, Frank Cox-O'Connell, Anna Friz, Brendan Gall, Ame Henderson, Gillian Lewis, Bobby Theodore, Trevor Schwellnus, and Vicki Stroich. The project has been developed by Public Recording with the support of the Theatre Centre and Alberta Theatre Projects. It premiered in Toronto in December 2010 and will open in Calgary in February 2011. 300 TAPES is a hybrid theatre project bringing together the aesthetics, strategies, and formal questions of distinct disciplines to create a shared performance language and structure merging theatre, sound art, design, and choreography. Tapes The performance's structure and content arises from an archive of personal stories as told by the performers and recorded onto microcassette tapes. These tapes, in both their content and form, are the material of the performance. The tape itself, as a substance, is examined: the ability to replay, rewind, and record magnetic tape, as well as its eventual degradation, are used as a physical metaphor for memory. In performance, the recordings are combined and manipulated as the performers select from the archive and "play it back" using different methods and effects. Similarly, all movement is based on set sequences of pedestrian gesture. On a larger, structural level, these actions are recorded, scripted, and re-performed in a series of repetitions. Auto-Reciting The central performance method is a technique we call "auto-reciting." Auto-reciting involves the performers interacting with tapes, using their bodies as playback units. Each performer listens to a microcassette playing back on headphones and says what they hear, as they hear it. This practical technique leads to different sound explorations (including degeneration, phasing, and reverb), mapping sound processes onto the body. For example, reverb is created when all three performers work with the same recording, staying in almost Click for larger view View full resolution Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 18] perfect synch. Phasing occurs when the voices experiment with falling in and out of synch with each other as they auto-recite. Degeneration involves the degradation of magnetic tape over time and through copying. This is created practically through a series of repeated re-recordings of both sound and movement material, allowing the material to change form. During the performance, the recordings also become audible to the audience through their live manipulation by Anna Friz, sometimes revealing and sometimes complicating notions of ownership, identity, and interpretation. Movement To create choreographic material, the performers learned sequences of pedestrian gesture sourced from videotaped auto-reciting. All these movements are assimilated by each performer to allow for moments of unison, as if their individual playbacks lined up. Movement can be slowed, sped up, or spliced, much like tape. The performers "play back" choreographed pedestrian movements or play back the movements of the other performers. Multi-Track Script A base performance language of sound metaphors and music recording has been a through-line in the work and is also crucial to the dramaturgical structure. We created the script for the performance using the notion of multi-track recording. Each performer's actions were written onto a separate track on a large scroll of paper, divided horizontally much like a music score. This logging of the emerging score is completed collaboratively by the performers and they discuss the overlapping actions, durations, and intensities to chart each player's actions in relation to each other. As well, design and Click for larger view View full resolution Click for larger view View full resolution PHOTO CAPTION: Joe Cobden, Brendan Gall, and Frank Cox-O'Connell in a workshop of 300 TAPES at the Theatre Centre, 2010. Photos by Bobby Theodore and Trevor Schwellnus [End Page 19] sound have their own dedicated tracks. With all the tracks laid out together on one document, we now have a "tape" to be played and replayed for the performance. This method allows us to visualize how each individual's "track" interacts with the others in relationship to time. Using this tape/script, we now have a loop to be used as a structuring device. The performance will feature three loops using the same repeating structure. With each repetition of the loop, small...

Hearing aid adjustment device

A hearing device fitting device that includes a computing device ( 3 ), connected on an input side with a connection (E 3 ) for data entry and on an output side with a connection (A 3 ) for a hearing device. The hearing device fitting device further includes an audio storage medium play-back unit having a control input (E 9 ) connected to a computing device ( 3 ) output and having an audio output (A 3 ) connectable to a loud speaker unit ( 11 ) input. The device supports a method a method for fitting the hearing device in situ by applying the hearing device to an individual; subjecting the individual to an audio test signal; having the individual appraise said audio test signal; and automatically selecting, in dependency of said appraising, a subsequent audio test signal.

Music reproducing apparatus and music reproducing method

A candidate piece specifying unit 6 specifies, as a first candidate piece, a musical piece whose musical piece parameter includes a first factor that is larger than a first factor of a musical piece currently being played from among musical pieces, and specifies, as a second candidate piece, a musical piece whose first factor is smaller than the first factor of the musical piece currently being played from among the musical pieces. When data of a musical piece is reproduced by a playback unit 4, a display control unit 8 causes musical piece information regarding the first candidate piece and the second candidate piece to be displayed at positions on a display screen that reflect coordinate positions in an impression space formed by the factors of the musical piece parameter. Upon receiving an input from a user of specifying a musical piece indicated by musical piece information displayed on a display device 10, a playback control unit 5 controls data of the specified musical piece so that the data of the specified musical piece is reproduced by the playback unit.

Vorgetäuschte epileptische Anfallsentladungen bei Wiedergabe einer Langzeit-EEG-Aufzeichnung

Reviewing a longterm-EEG magnet-recording on the video system of the play-back unit „Mobile Oxford Medilog 9000” EEG patterns appeared, which imposed as epileptiform discharges.

Ambulatory cassette EEG

The neurophysiologic evaluation of patients with possible or proven paroxysmal disorders is no longer limited to routine laboratory EEGs or intensive inpatient monitoring. Expanded temporal sampling of the EEG, which increases the probability of documenting, characterizing, and quantitating the electrographic manifestations of these illnesses, is now available on a portable, outpatient, and less cumbersome inpatient basis by means of ambulatory cassette recordings. Ambulatory EEG has evolved from clinical need and from new technology that has provided small multichannel tape recorders, miniature preamplifiers, and rapid video/audio playback units. Clinical series and controlled trials have confirmed the usefulness of cassette EEG monitoring in a wide range of neurologic disorders, particularly epilepsy. Ambulatory EEG diagnostic yields have been shown to be superior to routine laboratory studies and nearly as good as inpatient telemetry evaluations. The role of cassette recordings in clinical EEG is being redefined as new applications are established.

Earmuff apparatus for use with headsets

An earmuff assembly releaseably attached to a headset commonly used with radio and audio playback units in order to protect the user's ears in inclement weather. The assembly includes a muff body formed by a thermal covering, surrounding a core element, and the muff body has a soft front face positionable against the ear. The muff body has a central opening to telescopically receive an earphone to orient the earphone at a location adjacent the ear. The muff body is secured to the headset, for example, by a cover plate defined by a disc covered with fabric that extends over the opening, with the muff body and the cover plate connected together by a mating hook and loop fastening strip. Alternatively, attachment may be by means of an elastic panel. The core element may, if desired, be stiffened by an annular plate.

Continuous recording of direct high fidelity arterial pressure and electrocardiogram in ambulant patients.

A system providing high quality direct arterial blood pressure recordings and electrocardiograms in ambulatory patients was devised using a modified commercially available Holter type magnetic tape recorder together with a microminiature Millar (3F) tip transducer. This system did not require a perfusion line and solved the major drawbacks of other available systems. Pressure and electrocardiographic data were fed directly from the playback unit into a minicomputer for automatic beat to beat waveform analysis. Thus the blood pressure and RR interval variability signals could be simultaneously analysed with autoregressive modelling techniques to provide a quantitative estimate of sympathovagal balance in ambulant patients. The system was reliable, simple, and safe to use.

Ambulatory cassette EEG.

The neurophysiologic evaluation of patients with possible or proven paroxysmal disorders is no longer limited to routine laboratory EEGs or intensive inpatient monitoring. Expanded temporal sampling of the EEG, which increases the probability of documenting, characterizing, and quantitating the electrographic manifestations of these illnesses, is now available on a portable, outpatient, and less cumbersome inpatient basis by means of ambulatory cassette recordings. Ambulatory EEG has evolved from clinical need and from new technology that has provided small multichannel tape recorders, miniature preamplifiers, and rapid video/audio playback units. Clinical series and controlled trials have confirmed the usefulness of cassette EEG monitoring in a wide range of neurologic disorders, particularly epilepsy. Ambulatory EEG diagnostic yields have been shown to be superior to routine laboratory studies and nearly as good as inpatient telemetry evaluations. The role of cassette recordings in clinical EEG is being redefined as new applications are established.

Display of prolonged EEG recordings

An interactive minicomputer system for displaying, storing and providing hard copy output of prolonged EEG recordings has been described. Perhaps the most significant feature of the system is the versatility gained by using a minicomputer. The routines developed initially solely for the display and storage of the EEG have recently been readily modified to control a different playback unit. They also form an integral part of a software package being written to set up a data base for prolonged EEG recordings and also for the study of artefacts in ambulatory recordings.

The Stanford Cart and the CMU Rover

The Stanford Cart was a remotely controlled TV-equipped mobile robot. A computer program was written which drove the Cart through cluttered spaces, gaining its knowledge of the world entirely from images broadcast by an on-board TV system. The CMU Rover is a more capable, and neatly operational, robot being built to develop and extend the Stanford work and to explore new directions. The Cart used several kinds of stereopsis to locate objects around it in three dimensions and to deduce its own motion. It planned an obstacle-avoiding path to a desired destination on the basis of a model built with this information. The plan changed as the Cart perceived new obstacles on its journey. The system was reliable for short runs, but slow. The Cart moved 1 m every 10 to 15 min, in lurches. After rolling a meter it stopped, took some pictures, and thought about them for a long time. Then it planned a new path, executed a little of it, and paused again. It successfully drove the Cart through several 20-m courses (each taking about 5 h) complex enough to necessitate three or four avoiding swerves; it failed in other trials in revealing ways. The Rover system has been designed with maximum mechanical and control system flexibility to support a wide range of research in perception and control. It features an omnidirectional steering system, a dozen on-board processors for essential real-time tasks, and a large remote computer to be helped by a high-speed digitizing/data playback unit and a high-performance array processor. Distributed high-level control software similar in organization to the Hearsay II speech-understanding system and the beginnings of a vision library are being readied. By analogy with the evolution of natural intelligence, we believe that incrementally solving the control and perception problems of an autonomous mobile mechanism is one of the best ways of arriving at general artificial intelligence.

Archival Optical Disc Data Storage

The optical disc has become a viable candidate for mass digital data storage. Its unique characteristics make it suitable for archival, wideband, high density record and playback applications, as well as those requiring fast access to a large data base. RCA has been pursuing the development of such systems for government mass data storage and retrieval requirements. This work is centered around a unique tri-layer optical disc structure, which offers high sensitivity and signal-to-noise (SNR) at very high packing densities. The two major areas of pursuit are record and playback at data rates of 200 Mb/s or more and multiple-disc record and playback units for very large on-line capacities. Record and playback at high data rates are achieved through simultaneous multiple, parallel-channel operation. Single-channel rates of 50 Mb/s and multiple-channel rates of 150 Mb/s have been demonstrated on laboratory breadboard equipment. Concept designs for multiple disc record and playback systems are centered around two jukebox configurations, which can provide fast automatic access to large on-line data stores. A feasibility design for a reader unit with an access time of three seconds to 1013 bits (100 discs) has been performed. A second concept provides a capability of both record and playback of 50 Mb/s with an access time of seven seconds to 1013 bits.

Digital seismic event recorders: Description and examples from the San Jacinto fault, the imperial fault, the Cerro Prieto fault, and the Oaxaca, Mexico subduction fault

abstract Digital seismic event recorders in use by the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y Educacion Superior de Ensenada (CICESE) and by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are described. The field-recording systems consist of Kinemetrics 5-sec period seismometers and Geotech 1-sec period seismometers operating with Terra Technology digital event recorders, clock synchronizer, and field playback unit. The basic recorders (DCA-3009s) were modified to provide lower power consumption and greater amplification. The data handling facility consists of a laboratory playback unit which spools data directly into the PRIME computer at CICESE. The playback unit can also be interfaced with a PDP-11 minicomputer to produce data on magnetic tape in a form useful for analysis on the PRIME. The software available includes search and edit capabilities on the PDP-11, and search, edit, timing, and spectral analysis capabilities on the PRIME. Data are shown illustrating that, in the environments studied, very simple seismograms are observed for some events. This indicates that much of the complexity observed in other seismograms (for earthquakes in nearly the same location) is either due to the radiation pattern having a node for S waves in the direction of the station or due to complexity in the source. The quality of the data obtained from digital event recorders promises to yield important results concerning the nature of source complexity and the nature of rupture propagation and high-frequency radiation. These results will, in time, be valuable for understanding and modeling earthquake strong motion.

Measurements of repetitive activities of the knee

Reconstructive procedures for the arthritic knee, particularly internal prostheses, must include data on the type and frequency of knee activities if wear and loosening are to be evaluated. A description of the instrumentation and method for measuring type and frequency of knee motion in the home environment is presented. The instrumentation consists of an electrogoniometer and a miniature tape recorder to measure sagittal-plane knee motion and a data-reduction system (playback unit) that produces a d.c. voltage representative of knee motion as a function of time. The frequency and type of knee movements for specific activities—such as walking, ascending and descending stairs and sitting-and non-specific activities have been determined for normal subjects, providing a data base for subsequent comparison with arthritic subjects. Instrumentation and a method of recording a history of knee movement have been developed, and initial data indicate a high frequency of repetitive acts in the home environment.